sport news Legend Harford on Luton's incredible journey from non-league obscurity to brink ... trends now
There is no one better placed than Mick Harford to put the fall and rise of Luton Town into perspective.
Harford was a fearsome centre forward in a glorious era at Kenilworth Road, winning the League Cup, scoring as they lost in another Wembley final and collecting his England caps while leading the line for the Hatters.
In his second spell, he was unable to stop the club slipping out of the top flight as the Premier League launched and was sold to Chelsea after relegation, before returning four times to occupy various roles since hanging up his boots.
Harford was the manager when they crashed into non-League, holding the pieces together amid financial collapse following a 30-point deduction and lifting the EFL Trophy as they went.
That trophy, won at Wembley in front of 42,000 Luton fans, he regards among his finest achievements. And it was a symbol of defiance. As is the climb up the pyramid to the play-off final, where victory would complete perhaps football’s greatest comeback.
Mick Harford says Saturday's Championship play-off final is biggest game in Luton's history
Harford has returned four times to occupy various roles at Luton since hanging up his boots
Harford (above) was a fearsome centre forward in a glorious era at Kenilworth Road
‘We’ve got to talk about it because there’s a massive story unfolding here,’ says Harford, who made his most recent return to Luton in 2016 as chief recruitment officer, and is back in the same role after three spells as caretaker boss and six months off in 2021 as he underwent treatment for prostate cancer.
‘For me, it is Luton’s biggest game in their history, in the context of where we’ve come from and where we are. If we get to the Promised Land, it will be worth a vast amount of money. We can build a new stadium and that stadium will secure the club’s future. They should make a film of it if we do get promoted.’
And, when Hollywood calls, who will play the legendary centre forward turned recruitment chief? ‘Oh dear, who’s got a broken nose and dodgy knee? It’s got to be Brad Pitt, hasn’t it?’
In truth, you can see Pitt in the role, pacing the dressing room at Saltergate in April 2009, to inspire his exhausted and beleaguered players with relegation confirmed by a goalless draw against Chesterfield.
‘I told the players, “Look at the clock, remember the date and the time because the new Luton starts now”,’ recalls Harford. ‘That was a bit of closure for us. We had all the points deductions and
